When non-profit Impact Carbon was first introduced in Uganda, it sought ways of advancing the production and quality of improved, clean-burning cookstoves as a way to mitigate carbon emissions and reduce indoor air pollution. As operations at Impact Carbon progressed, there was a realisation of the need to introduce water purification systems as another means to reduce the consumption of wood-based fuel, which was being used in large quantities to boil water. Impact Carbon decided that the idea would work best as a business project, and should focus on schools. Buying the systems would encourage schools to own the responsibility of carefully utilising and maintaining them. The idea birthed Impact Water, a social business which was registered in 2015.

Mark Turgesen, Director of Impact Water in Uganda says, "The response is, 'when can I get started'? It is because schools are looking for solutions because they know it is a problem," he notes.

Indeed, Adam Kakembo, a teacher and sanitary master at Kawempe Muslim Secondary School in Kampala, says the school now has three Impact Water systems and consumes about 4,500 litres of water a day. He explains that before the introduction of these systems, the staff "would boil 300 litres for the boys and about 200 litres of water for the girls in the students' kitchens. We would consume about three to four lorries of firewood per week."

Impact Water put in place a credit facility that allows schools to pay over a two- and five-year long-term period, each child paying an average of Shs 800 per term.

Since the company's inception, 650,000 students in 1,300 schools have benefitted from access to safe drinking water thanks to its systems.

Impact Water is looking to expand further in institutions such as health facilities by specifically targeting bulk sales with non-governmental organisations and via partnerships with school associations.

http://www.impactwater.co/